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Brown Responds To City Attorney's Request To Sue In Quo Warranto

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Contact: (415) 703-5837, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov

SAN FRANCISCO -- California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today issued an opinion granting the San Francisco City Attorney’s request to bring a civil action in quo warranto to remove Supervisor Ed Jew from office. Brown’s opinion takes no position on the merits of the case but acknowledges that substantial questions of fact and law warrant review by a court.

In today’s opinion Attorney General Brown asserts that, “We find that it would be in the public interest, particularly for the Board and the residents and voters of District Four, to have a prompt judicial resolution of whether Defendant has fulfilled the eligibility requirements for the public office he now occupies.”

In June, 2007, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera asked the attorney general for permission to sue Ed Jew in quo warranto, alleging that Jew had not resided at all times in the district in which he was elected.

Quo warranto actions are typically filed to remove a person from public office. The attorney general must approve all quo warranto actions to protect public officials from frivolous lawsuits. The attorney general reviews written pleadings filed by both parties and issues an opinion either granting or denying the application to sue.

As the chief law officer of the state, the California Attorney General provides legal opinions to public officials and government agencies on issues arising in the course of their duties. Legal opinions of the Attorney General issued since 1986 may be viewed on the attorney general’s Website: http://www.ag.ca.gov/opinions/